Brierly & MacKenzie Kuhudzayi | RFI Student Serviceship Alumni

Rural Futures Institute Author

05/31/2017 Added

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Meet alums Brierly and MacKenzie Kuhudzayi who worked in Cozad at Camp Komeca last summer.

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[00:00:01.123](joyful light music)
[00:00:05.384]Our serviceship might be
[00:00:07.459]a little more unique in that it really dealt more
[00:00:09.559]with people, than with doing things.
[00:00:13.192]Initially, the plan was for us to
[00:00:15.688]create a marketing plan and a strategic plan for
[00:00:20.033]Camp Comeca which is a Methodist camp just outside of Cozad.
[00:00:24.771]Once we got there, we realized that there were some
[00:00:26.693]other priorities that the camp and the community had.
[00:00:30.697]So essentially we listened to the camp
[00:00:34.370]and we listened to Cozad, and we put together a plan
[00:00:39.614]of how that relationship could be strengthened.
[00:00:45.442]I'd read a lot about rural communities,
[00:00:48.023]and what makes them tick.
[00:00:49.490]And I'd read case studies on small towns,
[00:00:51.877]and what they are doing to turn themselves around.
[00:00:55.665]For Nebraska I think it's especially important
[00:00:57.557]cause there are a lot of rural communities.
[00:00:59.610]They have big dreams and they have places they wanna be
[00:01:02.503]and things they wanna develop.
[00:01:04.051]But sometimes they need somebody to come alongside them.
[00:01:06.932]And so Arafi is good at either having the resources
[00:01:09.465]or the connections or have the ability
[00:01:11.670]to ask the right questions so that the community can take
[00:01:14.606]the next steps that it wants to take.
[00:01:19.551]The biggest thing that has come up for us,
[00:01:23.276]mixing our variety of experiences.
[00:01:26.632]We both have experiences with Latin American countries,
[00:01:30.259]Zimbabwe obviously, and now Nebraska,
[00:01:32.678]and especially rural Nebraska,
[00:01:34.721]is that these rural communities have a lot of similarities.
[00:01:41.782]They love their lifestyle.
[00:01:46.517]They all just kinda love where they are,
[00:01:48.559]love what they're doing.
[00:01:49.878]There's good, and they love the good of it.
[00:01:55.041]I think that's kind of uniform all over,
[00:01:57.674]in rural communities around the world
[00:02:00.989]Often, the miscommunication that
[00:02:04.486]happens between people in general
[00:02:06.288]isn't what side of the political spectrum you're on,
[00:02:09.105]but often is the divide between urban and rural.
[00:02:12.225]And so if we can open up the communication, and if we can
[00:02:15.098]show the value in rural communities
[00:02:17.781]and all that they bring to the table,
[00:02:19.603]I think that it just allows communities to thrive.
[00:02:25.031]One thing that is true not only for Arafi
[00:02:27.841]or for rural Nebraska, is the importance of relationships.
[00:02:31.079]Nebraska's job market isn't great,
[00:02:34.777]but the lifestyle is great and the relationships are -
[00:02:39.882]for example, what brought us here,
[00:02:41.703]and what has kept us here.
[00:02:43.545]I think that might be something to bring into
[00:02:45.485]the conversation about how do we capitalize
[00:02:48.730]on the relationships for bringing or retaining our talent?
[00:02:53.191]When you take things like missions and development projects,
[00:02:57.410]one of the biggest benefit isn't really
[00:03:00.673]the work you are doing, it's the solidarity that's built.
[00:03:05.727]And that's one reason why I'd recommend this serviceship.
[00:03:08.560]It's the solidarity that builds between the rural community
[00:03:11.677]and some of these students is building an understanding of
[00:03:14.282]we're in this together.
[00:03:15.570]We all want Nebraska to be a better place.
[00:03:18.053]We all want our rural communities to be a better place.
[00:03:20.553]And that's the solidarity, the understanding of
[00:03:22.908]you know, someone's on my team.
[00:03:26.110](joyful light music)

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Brierly & MacKenzie Kuhudzayi | RFI Student Serviceship Alumni

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